So I think this is a cute haircut. Should I do it?

Happy Birthday Kara!

Kara has been asking for months when she will be four. Well, the time has finally come. Kara is 4!


She had Morgan, McKenna and Gavin Patterson (her cousins) come over. We had a pinata. They had a lot of fun and they each got several turns before Gavin finally broke it open.




Then we all went inside and played Disney Scene It. Kara opened her presents and we had cake before the pizza came for dinner. So much FUN!

After dinner we rushed over to Kara's gymnastics performance.

Grandma Larsen, Grandma and Grandpa Rogers, Jenny, and Kristy came too. Then we went home for another party! More pizza, cake and ice cream, and of course, presents!

Kara waits patiently while Mom struggles to get the Barbie out of the box. Why do they make it so difficult anyway?

Happy Birthday Kara, we love you!

Happy Birthday Kaylee!!

Ok, so I know I'm a couple weeks late but better late than never, right?

So Kaylee is the lucky girl who got three, count 'em, three birthday parties this year. On her Birthday Grandma and Grandpa Larsen came over for cake and ice cream.

Then on Saturday she had a party with her friends. There were 11 screaming girls (okay 10 girls and Gavin) running around the house for two hours. YIKES!! Fortunately Andrew slept through most of it and Jenny came to help me. I don't know what would have happened without her. Oh, all the pictures are courtesy of Jenny (she filled my entire memory card!) They made bracelets,

played musical butterflies,

and wrapped each other in toilet paper "cocoons".
They all had a great time.

Then on Sunday we went to Grandma and Grandpa Rogers house to celebrate a lot of birthdays. Kaylee, Danny, Grandpa Rogers, and Great Grandpa Rogers. So many birthdays and so much fun! BUT, we will never again invite so many kids to a party.

The End Is Near!

Yes, you read right. The end is near. Today Wes had a job interview and he came home with a job. He will be working for the general surgeons in Provo. Yea!! While he was there one of the NPs mentioned that someone had graduated early so now Wes is going to see if that is a possibility. After April there aren't any more classes to take, just clinical hours and Wes has like twice as many as the rest of his class so hopefully he could do it. Yea for income! He can't work until he graduates though, and he also has to take boards to get licensed but the end is near.

The Difference Between Boys and Girls

I used to think that boys couldn't be so much trouble. My girls were pretty active, how much different could boys be? Then I had one. At first not so different, except diaper changes which usually involved an entire change of clothes for him and me. We learned pretty quick to open the diaper then close it again until he finished peeing. Now Andrew is 2 and really getting into trouble. For the girls trouble was coloring on the walls
or using real water for their tea parties and spilling it everywhere. This morning Andrew took a DVD case (fortunately the DVD wasn't in it) and put it in the microwave. And started the microwave. By the time I got to it (which couldn't have been more than ten seconds) it had started to burn. Oh boy, does burning plastic smell bad. Fortunately there weren't any actual flames but the case smelled so bad I had to throw it away. Then it got quiet. Anyone who has had a toddler knows that quiet is scary. Andrew was in the bathroom eating toothpaste. At least he wasn't fishing in the toilet with his toothbrush this time. He did that a couple weeks ago.
Andrew is really not a trouble maker, he's just curious and he thinks he's a grown up and can do what grown ups do. He's always very sorry when he does something wrong and it's hard to be mad at him when he wraps his little arms around your neck and smothers you with kisses.

Gymnastics

There's not much more entertaining than watching a bunch of 3-6 year olds doing (or trying to do) gymnastics. I signed Kara up for a class and between parents, younger siblings and bossy or out of control classmates, I'm wondering if it was worth it. Kara seems to enjoy it though-most of the time.

Here is where I vent...Parents and younger siblings- there are a few parents in the class who let their younger children run wild. They get in the way of the kids in the class and are generally destructive and out of control. For example, one little boy, probably about 2 yrs old, one day was sitting at his mother's feet while she talked to another mother. I looked over and saw him with a syringe and a bottle of insulin, trying to give himself a shot. I looked at the mom- clueless. "Excuse me, excuse me- your little boy..." Yikes. The same little boy ran outside into the snow, barefoot yesterday and his mom had no idea. I had to let him back in the building. Twice. I'm beginning to feel like a babysitter.

Kara has improved quite a bit though, over her first day. It's kind of fun to see her learning to do a cartwheel and walk backward on the balance beam.

Kaylee came to watch this week (home sick from school) and she was amazed at some of the things Kara was doing. Kaylee said she would be scared to go over backward. Yay for Kara!!

Fun in the Snow

We have had an unusually snowy winter this year. It seems like every week there have been 1 or 2 major storms. I, personally, am SICK OF IT! But the kids have been having a ball (when they weren't sick)

Here are some pictures of the kids having fun in the snow.